1/17/2015 Carnegie Hall Update
I hope this weekend finds you well as we continue to move on towards our trip to perform at Carnegie Hall in June! I would like to give you an update on some information as many parts of the trip are falling into place as we finalize details on our trip.
First of all I have attached a copy of our rehearsal schedule for this spring, as well as our revised itinerary. The itinerary has changed a little bit in some spots as we learned more specifics about our rehearsal, performance time, and air flights. I do expect a few items might change here and there, but this should be a pretty finalized version of our itinerary at this point.
On the last page of the attachment I did list a reminder of items that are included on the trip for your own planning purposes. Students will need some money for snacks/food on the way to and from NYC. We will cover the breakfasts at the hotel on all days except Monday of the trip, on that day we will be leaving prior to the continental breakfast beginning at the hotel. Students will be able to have several options for breakfast sandwiches, bagels, doughnuts, and some other items right where we’ll be while we wait for the Today Show.
Students will also be on their own for lunches. I’ve ben advised that the rule of thumb is that anytime you sit down to eat at a restaurant you should plan $15-20 per meal. There are however also numerous carts of hotdogs, kebabs, sandwiches, and other items that we will encounter. I am going to encourage students to try one of these carts at least once on our trip. Those meals should easily be under $10 with a drink in most cases.
For luggage on this trip students are allowed two check-in items, a carry on bag (instrument in most cases), and a personal item (purse/backpacks). I insisted on flying Southwest since they are one of the few airlines that still allows this baggage allowance. There will be a weight limit on the luggage that I will pass on at the April meeting.
Please remember that by this week we need student and sponsor accounts to be at $1,500. We have about $27,000 due in the next 40 days to our two companies and it’s imperative that we have that money to pay those bills. Thank you for those who have kept up their payment schedule so diligently. I sent home a statement with students last week and emailed balances last weekend. I will do so again Tuesday evening.
Finally please note that if your student will be over 18 years of age at any time of our trip they MUST have a valid government issued photo ID for airport security. A drivers license, passport, etc. would all work for that requirement. Students under 18 are exempt from that requirement.
I do have many more details to share with everyone, most of which I will cover at the meeting we will have April 7th following our recording session. All students must be present and have a parent/guardian at that meeting. We need all sponsors to be in attendance that evening.
Thanks so much for your help and support. This trip is going to be the trip of a lifetime as the Odem Bands perform in arguably the world’s most famous concert hall!!!
Mr. Steven Rash
Director of Bands
Odem High School
www.odembands.org